TEHRAN -- The first festival of illustrations of Persian literary masterpieces focusing on the works of Rumi will be held at the Niavaran Cultural Center from November 21 until 30.

85 illustrations featuring Rumi’s “Ghazaliat of Shams” and 169 illustrations for children depicting the parables of Rumi’s Masnavi have been selected from amongst 944 submitted works, the secretary of the gala Kianush Gharibpur mentioned during a press conference at the Iranian Artists’ Forum on November 18.
“Unfortunately the majority of participants are purely seeking to gain an award at the festival, which is a destructive attitude,” he added.
“Turan Mirhadi, Karim Nasr, Behruz Gharibpur, Atieh Markazi and Navid Barzargan are among the members of the gala’s jury. The festival will buy 30 selected works and keep them at the treasury of the Iranian Association of Illustrators,” Gharibpur announced.
The festival is being sponsored by the Children’s Book Council of Iran, the Iranian Women’s Artists’ Forum (IWAF) and the Iranian Association of Children’s Book Illustrators, deputy of the gala Maziyar Rezakhani, who also attended the conference, mentioned.
Several workshops will be held on the sidelines of the event and the selected works will be on display until the closing ceremony on November 27, he added.
Cosponsored by the Shiraz office of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the selected artworks will be displayed in Shiraz in a week-long exhibition. Works by veteran artists including Morteza Momayyez, Firuzeh Golmohammadi and Nureddin ZarinKelk will also be showcased at the event